Indicating device for use with clocks



- '7 v G. c. H. CLAYTON 2,41,H

INDICATING DEVICE FOR USE WITH CLOCKS Filed Aug. 23, 1955 5 SheeEs-Sheet 2 Wm G. c. H. CLAYTON INDICATING DEVICE FOR USE WITH CLOCKS Filed Aug. 25, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented May 19, 1936 PATENT OFFICE INDICATING DEVICE FOR USE WITH CLOCKS Gerard Charles Henry Clayton, London, England, assignor to Instanta Electric Limited Application August 23, 1935, Serial No. 37,452 In Great Britain October 18, 1933 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to improvements in devices suited for use in commercial or industrial establishments, at places of entertainment or in public or other places as indicators or 5 for attracting attention, in which numerals or the like arranged round a clock face are adapted to be illuminated.

For the purpose of announcing the numbers of performances given in places of amusement and the like, it has been proposed to provide a board or clock face of opaque material having numbers each illuminated from the rear of the board or face by an electric lamp, and to provide open-ended and separate screens between the lamps. In such 5 arrangement, the lamps are controlled by a central switch, also adapted, if desired, to actuate electric gongs or bells which may be provided at the indicators. Also, it has been proposed, in lieu of the ordinary clock face, to provide a clock with a 20 rim secured to the frame of the clock, the rim having glazed holes marked with numerals, advertising matter or the like, each hole being illuminated by a switch operated by the clock movement, the lamps, however, not being screened 25 from each other. In a further proposal, a clock is encircled by radial sector-like fields containing advertising matter, which fields are adapted to be illuminated by electric lamps controlled by the clock. In this device the main object is the pro- 30 vision of advertising fields of comparatively large area outside the clock, which is of usual form, whereas the present invention is concerned with the provision of signalling or indicating means arranged within a clock.

35 The device of the invention comprises, in combination, a clock having a time-indicating dial or face provided with transparent or semi-transparent numerals, letters, symbols or like indicators, a framework behind the dial divided into compartments separating the transparent or semi-transparent portions on the face from one another, and means disposed in such compartments adapted to illuminate the said transparent or semi-transparent portions of the dial or face with which such compartments are in register, the said illuminating means being controlled by means operable independently of the clock mechanism and located remotely from the clock,

50 as, for instance, by the operation of a switch by a distant operator.

To attract attention to the numeral, letter, symbol or the like on the clock face thus illuminated an audible signal may be provided or as- 55 sociated therewith, the audible signal being synchronized if desired with the illumination of the symbol or the like.

A particular application of the device, to which the invention is, however, not limited, is as a signalling device for use in offices and works for 5 calling individual partners or employees by numher. A signalling system utilizing such a signalling apparatus involves the provision of clocks in the various rooms of the oflice or works connected with a station or stations controlled by an 10 operator.

Various embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation with part of the clock face broken away, and Fig. 2 a cross-section on the line II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a second embodiment, Fig. 4 being a crosssection on the line III-III of Fig. 3. Figs. 5 and 6 show respectively a rear elevation and the base member of a circular clock which is otherwise similar to the construction shown in Figs. 3 and 4, While Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic view of the circuits and selective means for closing the circuits to the lamps when desired.

Referring to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the device consists of a wall plate I, for the convenient attachment of the clock to the wall, an outer casing 2, and a chassis or base plate 3 divided by a series of upstanding walls 4 providing a number of compartments or chambers 5 for electric lamps 6 and a central recess or pocket I for a clock 8 which may be an electric clock. The chassis or base plate 3 is attached to the Wall plate I by means of bolts 9 engaging distance pieces III while the clock face or dial II is secured by means of screws l2 engaging the screw-threaded distance pieces 13 mounted on the bolts 9. The bolts 9 and screws l2 are provided with rubber or like washers l4. The lamps 6 are mounted in suitable holders [5 secured to the chassis or base plate 3. The face or dial 8 of the clock is, as shown, opaque, with the exception of the numbers denoting the hours.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings the chassis or base plate 3 serves merely as a lamp holder, the compartments 5 for the lamps 6 being separate. As shown, the chassis 3 carrying the holders I5 and lamps 6 is secured direct to the wall or the like by means of screws l6. chambers 5 are constituted by walls 4 attached to a face plate II which constitutes the dial of the clock 8, the numerals being cut out in the dial It as shown. Between the lamps 6 and the numerals there may be interposed diffusing 55 The screens I! of coloured glass, the screens being held by lugs l8 formed on the rear of the face plate or dial II. The diffusing screens I'I may be in the form of a transparent coloured film in which case the screens may be attached to the rear of the face plate or dial II by means of an adhesive. 7 I V The outer casing 2 is secured to the base plate 4 by means of ball catches l9.

In this construction it will be seen that the easing 2, the clock 8 and the chambers 5 can be removed as a whole when the device or clock 8 needs attention, the chassis or base plate 3 and the lamps 8 being left attached to the wall.

In the modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6 in which the device is circular the walls 5 providing the chambers 6 are disposed radially. In other respects the construction is the same as that described and shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawthe lamps 6 through the common return 2|, a battery or other source of electric current 25, and a wire 26 leading from the opposite side of the battery to the switch arm 24. A hell or other audible signal 21 may be connected in the common return 2| so that when the switch arm engages any of the contacts 23 to illuminate a particular lamp 6, an audible signal will also be given to attract the attention of the party who is to note the signal.

I claim:

A device of the character described comprising a chassis, a casing, means for removably mounting the casing on said chassis, a clock motor mechanism carried by said casing, a clock dial having the usual time indicating indicia carried by said casing, clock hands operable by said motor mechanism and movable over said dial to indicate the time, said indicia on the clock dial at least in part being light-transmitting, a framework interposed between the dial and the chassis, said framework being divided into compartments located respectively behind the indicia, and a plurality of electric lamps mounted on said chassis and projecting respectively into said compartments.

GERARD CHARLES HENRY CLAYTON. 

